In Newfoundland the word bridge, also spelled brudge, can mean “a deck” or “a porch,” while the word porch refers to an additional room, usually attached at the back of a house, and used as a storage space or mud room. If a Newfoundlander says it’s...
Tim from Jacksonville, Florida, has long been teased for saying milk more like melk and eggs with a vowel closer to ages. His mother’s South Carolina accent and his father’s Newfoundland accent may have contributed, and these pronunciations have...
In Britain, the word twoc means “car theft,” and to go twocking means “to go joyriding in a stolen car.” It’s police slang derived from the acronym for the phrase Taking Without Owner’s Consent or TWOC. This is...
Sandy from Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin, wonders if there’s a specific word for “window shopping, but online.” One option is browsing. In French, “to go window shopping” is faire du lèche-vitrine, or literally, “to...
Lois in Newfoundland, Canada, asks about the phrase pain in the pinny, meaning “stomach discomfort.” Pain in the pinny, or more commonly pain under the pinny, refers to a pain under one’s pinafore, or apron, the word pinafore...
A listener in Cambridge, Wisconsin, says her mother, who is of Irish descent, used to tell her children to wash their hair so it wouldn’t be streely. This word derives from Irish for “unkempt,” and perhaps ultimately from a Gaelic...
